Many Sydney developers have not adequately assessed the potential crime risks of their developments, says a crime prevention expert.
Executive Committee member of the Australian Crime Prevention Council and lecturer at the Sydney Institute of Criminology, Clancey Garner, has co-researched a study that found half of crime risk assessment reports were “far from comprehensive and almost not worth doing”.
Under section 79C of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, developments that are likely to “create a risk of crime” must include a crime risk assessment report as part of their development application.
After analysing 33 reports, many of which were submitted as part of DAs to the City of Sydney Council, the research casts serious doubt over the seriousness of crime risk assessment reports.
The study revealed 80 per cent of reports showed no adverse findings in relation to crime whatsoever. Instead many “tended to provide glowing commentary about the proposed development.”
Mr Clancey believes many authors of these reports have a conflict of interest and are unable to stand as independent parties.
“One concern we did have looking at these reports was the potential for the authors of the report to emphasise positive elements that perhaps were exaggerated…without drawing attention to the crime risk.”
Mr Clancey and his team were also surprised to find a “couple of companies may be subverting the process by virtually turning out the same report.”
One company prepared four identical reports and simply changed the location of the proposed development.
The research also showed 60 per cent of reports failed to consult stakeholders like the local police as part of assessing the crime risks of the area.
While half did not make recommendations for how the proposed development would manage or reduce crime.
Mr Clancey has called on NSW Planning to enforce better guidelines.
According to Mr Clancey, with the current guidelines “you can write a report without actually speaking to the local police or local council. You can pretty much get away with writing a report that doesn’t address the key tasks and issues.”
But NSW Planning believes it is not responsible.
“The responsibility for assessing the adequacy of development applications and any associated documentation provided by the applicant (such as a crime risk assessment) remains with the relevant consent authority,” said a NSW Planning spokesperson.
“As such, questions regarding the adequacy of crime risk assessments prepared by applicants should be directed to the relevant council.”
But Mr Clancey said: “I’m confident the City of Sydney are really vigilant and have effectively considered crime risk.”
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